Abstract
Reinforced plastic materials are widely used in high sophisticated applications. Fiber length has a strong impact on the mechanical properties of composite materials. Being able to reliably and accurately evaluate the residual fiber length distribution of a sample is the key to understand the mechanisms of fiber breakage through experimental investigations, permitting the prediction of properties for flax fiber reinforced components. To optimize the properties of the composites, the greatest average length is sought. The objective is therefore to investigate the effect of the mixing process (single and twin screw extrusion) and the injection shaping process on flax fibers reinforced composites.However, the subsequent image analysis is frequently performed automatically using the fiber length measurement system “FASEP” that can be used to analyze fiber length distributions automatically. After separating the fibers out of the composite material without any damage, and preparing them, statistical analysis can be done. After image processing and analysis with mathematical methods, a complete investigation of the fiber length distribution could be determined. The main results show that a greater concentration of shorter flax fibers was found in the twin screw extruded composite with more than 16% of particles are smaller than 180 μm when compared against the single screw extruded material. However, volume average results of flax fibers are higher for composite manufactured with single screw extrusion. The control of fiber breakage and final morphology is studied by Scanning Electron Microscopy. As a result of the injection step, the lengths of the fibers have been reduced, compared to the dimensions after extrusion. No reliable correlation between fiber length distribution and mechanical properties, measured with tensile test was found. Also, there is no significanteffect of the melt processing types on the tensile properties considering the experimental errors.
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